The Nomadic Museum is a 56,000-square-foot
temporary structure housing Ashes and Snow, an exhibition of large-scale
photographic works by artist Gregory Colbert

The 185-foot-wide by 350-foot-long museum is currrently under
construction adjacent to the Historic Santa Monica Pier. The Santa
Monica structure is architect Shigeru Ban’s second iteration
of the Museum, which is constructed of shipping containers originally
sited at Pier 54 in NYC from March 5 to June 6, 2005.

The structure, which will be disassembled and reconstructed as
Ashes and Snow travels, provides a transitory environment that
evokes the journey of the exhibition Sustainable post-industrial
design utilizing recycled and reusable materials. The Museum is
constructed of 152 steel cargo containers. The majority of the
shipping containers are rented, while the remainder will be used
to transport the museum as it travels from venue to venue. The
containers are stacked in a checkerboard pattern 34 feet high
to form the walls of the three wings of the museum, and the openings
between the containers are secured with a diagonal membrane panels.
The total height of the museum, including the peaked roof, is
56 feet.

The structure of the roof trusses is partially constructed of
one-foot diameter paper tubes that rest on two-and-a-half-foot
diameter paper tube vertical support columns. The tubes are connected
in segments so that they can be dismantled and shipped from place
to place in the containers used for the wall structure. The aluminum
trusses and roof membrane are engineered to be easily deconstructed,
stored and shipped to future locations.

The column-free
central hall of the museum contains a large-format digital cinema,
naturally lit bookstore and information center. The entrance to
the museum provides a dramatic view all the way down the central
walkway to small film theaters at each end. These smaller theaters
play a series of short video “haikus”.

The central 12-foot-wide walkway composed of 1" hickory planks
is bordered on either side by bays filled with black river stones,
over which the unframed artworks are hung from thin cables and suspension
rods installed between the paper columns. A series of divisions
of the space is formed from diaphanous hand-made curtains made of
one million pressed paper tea bags from Sri Lanka.

A one-hour 35mm film by Colbert, narrated by acclaimed actor Laurence
Fishburne and edited by two-time Academy-Award-winner Pietro Scalia,
is digitally projected onto a large-format screen in a column-free
theater.

Upon exiting the exhibition, a naturally lit bookstore is formed
of cardboard tubes, a paper wall system and recycled wood panels
displaying various editions of handmade books. a staffed information
desk is located at the end of a serpentine display counter.